YAY GOD

One of the reasons for the blog is to take a look at all the little ways God does what we like to call “showing off” – all those little coincidences and things that make us go hmmmm……  and today was a perfect example.

Yesterday I wrote about one of my favorite stories (“God and Jeff”) – it happened in 1988, and Jeff moved to Texas several years ago, and we moved to North Carolina… needless to say we had lost touch. We “friended up” on Facebook a couple of years ago, but no real interaction.

So imagine my surprise today when (during a brief “ADD break” on Facebook) I looked down and saw that Jeff was online! So I got to ‘chat’ with him for a minute, and tell him I had written the story, etc. How funny, that the day after I write the story, there he is!

But how often does that happen? How many times does someone cross our mind that we haven’t thought about in years, only to see them walk by us two days later? Or we suddenly get the urge to write or call someone out of the blue (more on that tomorrow)? I have come to believe that those instances (when someone crosses my mind) are God preparing me to see folks I might otherwise not have noticed or recognized…. a preview, if you will, of things to come, if only I will pay attention!

Who has crossed your radar today? Keep your eyes open! You never know when they might walk by 🙂

Early on in my spiritual journey I heard a guy tell a great story – he was talking about how different his life was since he had invited God into it. He felt God’s presence all the time… God and Jeff, Jeff and God…God and Jeff, Jeff and God. “But,” he said, “every now and then I get to work and it’s JUST JEFF… and everybody can tell!!!!!”

It always makes me think… how often do I say a great prayer at home and then run out of the house and leave God there? Or pray on my way somewhere and ‘leave God in the car’? Brother Lawrence wrote of “practicing the presence of God”… talking to Him all day long as if He is right beside us (because, of course, He is) – my day goes so much better when I get to work and say “OK God, it’s me and You today! Let’s go!” Not that I need to remind God to come with me, but I need to remind ME that He is there!  I can invite Him into my work, my marriage, my trips to the grocery (where He is MUCH needed when the person in front of me has 15 items in the 12 item line)…. conscious contact with my Creator makes for a much better day….

So, next time you head out the door….. remember to take God with you!!

Surrender – the act of putting my outcome in the hand of another. Yikes!

For some reason when I hear the word surrender, I don’t connect ‘outcome’ to it – my mind goes straight to YOU LOSE. But is that really the case? When I surrender to God, and put my outcome in His hands, life is always smoother. Spiritual surrender (for me) means letting go of the outcome – I do the footwork, God does results. I do the footwork, God does the results. I do the footwork, God does the results. Wash, rinse, repeat.

It’s easy to surrender when things are hitting the fan and I don’t know what else to do – the trick is to STAY surrendered…. especially when things are going well. How many times do we do something like this: Thanks for that great job God! Now I must work 80 hours a week so keep it, so sorry, no time for church, or family, or prayer… gotta get to bed and get up early to do it again!!  Not that we say that consciously, but actions speak louder than words…

God, let me remember that all good things flow from you and my job is to show up and walk your path. Help me to stay surrendered, and keep my outcome in Your hands!

God either is or He isn’t. My basic equation for life – like 1+1=2. When that is my choice, of COURSE God is everything!

When I find myself in fear, I can return to this basic premise. God is everything or He is nothing. God is or He isn’t. My fear is saying “well… God might have helped you with all that OTHER stuff, but you are screwed on this one…” so that means God is, what, maybe an 80% God? Not possible!! God is, or He isn’t! So… He is!

Sometimes the shortest prayers are the most effective….

God is with me….God is with me….God is with me.

OK…. breathing! (again)

I was speaking to a group today, telling them about one of my earliest epiphanies when I started on this spiritual path: buy gas by the tank, and cigarettes by the carton! You might think “hmmmm not exactly the deep spiritual guidance I was looking for Beth” but let me expand on the concept 🙂

I realized that I started EVERY DAY almost out of gas, and on my last pack of cigarettes [note-I became a non-smoker in 1990] – so it consumed my day in an ‘under the radar’ kind of way…. every time I smoked a cigarette, I realized I had to get to the store… every time I got in my car I realized I needed gas… but no time to get it now, I’ll stop after work. Oops, no time now, I’ll stop after the meeting… well, I’m tired now, I’ll stop on the way to work tomorrow morning..oops, I hit the snooze one too many times, I’m going to be late, and AAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHH I can’t get to work with no gas and I’m late and there’s no time to stop, and ARRRRGGGHHHH….. and then it would begin again (with $3 of new gas and one new pack of cigarettes).

All well and good, but why bring it up now? That was 1988! So why now? A friend of mine once said that our character defects don’t go away, they just go off stage and change costumes! My create-a-crisis defect might be wearing better shoes and driving a better car, but how many times do I STILL create my own drama? Putting off projects at work, hitting the snooze alarm again…and again…. watching TV instead of doing, well, almost anything! haha

My pledge for the rest of the week (and yes, I know tomorrow is Friday, but a girl has to start somewhere!) is to look for the places in my life where I still create unnecessary drama….. anybody with me??

Que Sera Sera…. whatever will be, will be…. funny how I never gave that much thought as a spiritual principal!

I recently heard that expectations are the filters through which we interpret our circumstances – in other words, current events are what they are – how I react to them determines my state of mind. For example, it’s winter, and winter brings cold weather. I can be mad about it (I HATE winter) or I can be thrilled about it (I LOVE the cold) and either way, the temperature isn’t going to budge according to how I feel.

So… my current drama is the amount of time it’s taking certain medical professionals to get a pile of paper from one place (their office) to another (the insurance company). I was told today it could take up to 10 days. So………I can be a nervous wreck for 10 days, worrying about what will happen if it really takes that long, or I can relax and enjoy today (a wise women tells me all the time “be where your hands are”) and then enjoy tomorrow, and when 10 days is up it will be done. 10 days if I’m a wreck, 10 days if I’m enjoying myself. What? My mood doesn’t determine the speed at which the world turns? Daaaaang…. don’t they know who I am?? hahahahaha

Ok Doris…. we’ll try it your way…. just for today 🙂

OK world – this is my first post to my new blog!! I have been “meaning to” write daily (or at least several times per week) about thoughts of a spiritual nature – more specifically to try to identify all the ways that I see God “showing off” when I remember to look around and see it! So… today’s happening:

It had been a particularly bad morning – financial insecurity piled up financial insecurity (husband with medical problems, a long list of repairs needed on the house we are selling, etc) – I was on my way to the dentist (because when it rains it pours) and (of course) missed a traffic light,. While sitting at the red light pondering the crappiness of my morning, I noticed that the woman next to me had rolled her window down and was waving at me – when I saw her and rolled my window down, she had a huge smile on her face and said “I LOVE your license plates!!!!”

What do my license plates say? They say YAY GOD – as a matter of fact that’s where I got the title for this blog – so isn’t it fitting that my first post ends up being about exactly that… YAY GOD.

An angel in a black SUV reminded me that He is here and He is with me – I just have to remember to stop, breathe, pray, and listen.

To whoever is out there reading this today – I hope you see your angel too!